Female members of staff who failed to measure up were given 10 squats.

"From today, every time we make an error we'll have to do 10 press-ups, or squats for the women," said a company email, leaked to Corriere della Sera newspaper. "This will bring about a great result - we will learn from our mistakes."

The draconian regime was implemented at Abercrombie & Fitch's flagship shop in Milan, which employs around 200 full-time staff.

"I had to do a lot of press-ups," one former employee, who declined to give his full name, told the newspaper. "That's how it works there - you take it or leave it." The strict regime was criticised by union leaders. "If this is the American model, then we have little to learn from them," said Graziella Carneri from CGIL, Italy's largest union.

The "dignity of staff" was being compromised by such strict rules and regulations, she said.

The company email dates to last April and it was not clear if the punitive exercise regime was still operating.

A spokesman for Abercrombie & Fitch in London declined to comment on the story when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.

It is not the first time the American company has been criticised for its strictly-enforced "look policy", which stipulates that staff should embrace a wholesome, preppy look.

Employees are told their hairstyles must be "clean and natural" and women's fingernails must extend no more than a quarter of an inch beyond the tip of the finger.